A Mayan temple secret passageway discovered by archaeologists could unlock new discoveries about the ancient civilization. The Kukulcán Temple containing the tunnel dates to 600 to 1200 A.D.
A team of researchers from the Great Mayan Aquifer Project made the discovery while studying the labyrinths running beneath the Chichén Itzá ruins located on Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula, the International Business Times reported.
They believe it could lead them to a cenote, or natural sinkhole, found beneath the Kukulcán Temple in 2015.
Up to this point, the area has never been seen before and it is only through the use of electron tomography that researchers were aware of its existence, The Yucatan Times reported.
The team believes the entrance to the cenote could lie in an ossuary room, a smaller burial chamber, blocking the passageway.
“Through the ossuary we can enter the cave beneath the structure and there we found a blocked passageway, probably closed off by the ancient Mayans themselves,” said the team’s leader, Guillermo de Anda, per The Yucatan Times.
“We will enter again and, this time, we will try to open it to see if the passageway leads us to the entrance of the cenote beneath the Castle.”
He explained that they wanted to first prove the existence of the cenote “because no one has seen it, we only have the images; then we’d have to explore it.”
The 80-foot Kukulcán Temple pyramid was central to local Mayan traditions, Newsweek noted, and there are a number of natural sinkholes located around the area.
Historically, these cenotes maintained mythical status in local traditions.
Archaeologists working on the project are hoping that further exploration of the secret underground passage could shed light on the Mayan snake god, the Kukulcan.
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